In the infamous opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens proclaimed that “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” 165 years later, Connally High School theatre students might not be able to claim that they’ve seen the best or worst of situations, but they can certainly say that what they have experienced has been EPIC.
The theatre department’s competitive one act play season ended on Thursday, March 21 in the bi-district round of competition. Their production of Epic Proportions by David Crane and Larry Coen marked their return to post-district UIL competition.
“It was really exciting to watch our students truly become a One Act Play FAMILY,” high school theatre director Allison Figley said. “Only seven of our twenty-two students had any experience in one act prior to this point, so being able to advance really demonstrated their growth.”
Epic Proportions is a comedy set in the 1930s that tells the story of two brothers who find themselves working on the set of a movie that seems destined for failure at the worst, and chaos at the best.
“It was a lot of fun to be able to spend so much time with my friends as we worked on the show,” sophomore Daniel Escobedo said. “We worked nonstop. I basically slept at the school, but it was worth it to see the finished product.”
This year’s one act play season started with auditions after the conclusion of the department’s annual musical, Elf. After receiving their roles in mid-December, the company members worked to memorize their lines and blocking in time to receive feedback at a number of invitational festivals.
“It takes a lot of practice to get everything down and ready to go for a performance,” senior Andre Boston said. “I think that if you drill something enough times, eventually it just gets ingrained. It took a lot of work for me to get all of my lines down.”
As their season progressed, the students worked around a variety of obstacles and delays. Most notably, the company worked to share their space with the newly revived one act play program at the junior high.
“There were a few weeks where we had to sacrifice some of our rehearsal time to help the younger kids get prepared for their contest,” junior Laura Sitton said. “We knew that those delays would occur, so we made sure to focus and work hard in the time that we did have. Working with the junior high students also helped us learn more about our technical equipment, which was nice.”
As the district meet on March 2, 2024 neared, the company faced a final obstacle when they lost rehearsal time in the final moments before competition in order to host the District 17-3A One Act Play competition at the CHS Auditorium.
“Connally has been an in demand venue to host competitions ever since the auditorium received renovations to its lighting and sound equipment,” CISD Director of UIL Academics Michael Donaldson said. “While hosting a contest right before you go to your own is never ideal, I was proud to see how hard our students worked to juggle both responsibilities. It was a fantastic learning experience for them to see the administrative side of a contest.”
CHS placed 3rd overall at the district competition. In addition to their recognition as one of the schools to advance to the bi-district competition, they also received notable individual awards and honors. Laura Sitton was named to the All Star Crew, Knicholas Taylor was named to the Honorable Mention All Star Cast, and Andre Boston and Evian Lucien-Coleman were named to the All Star Cast.
“Getting an award and advancing made me feel like our hard work really paid off,” junior Evian Lucien-Coleman said. “It was really nice to advance, because we competed against some really great shows. I want to use this experience to help me grow as an actress; I want to improve my physicality and my timing to make my performance even better.”
Connally advanced to bi-district with Salado High School’s company of The Trial of the Chicago 7 and China Spring High School’s company of Pearl. The three departments have grown close over the past two years that they have spent competing with one another at the district level.
“One Act Play gives me the opportunity to make friends with people from all across the state that have similar interests and goals to me,” junior Israel “Friend” Pena said. “I like that we got to advance with the schools that we did because they did such a great job of setting the standard high.”
While Connally did not advance from the bi-district competition on March 22, the company did receive numerous accolades. “Friend” Pena was named to the All Star Crew, Evian Lucien-Coleman was named to the Honorable Mention All Star Cast, and Andre Boston was named to the All Star Cast.
“While I’m upset that we didn’t advance, I can recognize that the schools that did make it to the area round did a great job,” senior Knicholas Taylor said. “I can only hope that all of the kids that return next year will be able to keep our progress moving forward.”
As the department celebrates a successful competitive season, Mrs. Figley has already shifted her focus to next year.
“Our tagline for this show was to ‘be big, be bold, and be EPIC,” Figley said. “I think that this year’s one act season really has prepared us to use that same mindset as a starting point for another great year.”